For a long time the bedtime line up has remained unchanged. Freckles continues to perch on the perch on the left that she used to share with Rusty. Speckles and Emerald always perch on the back perch behind her. Dandelion and Apricot perched on their perch on the right and Cinnamon on the back perch behind them.
Watching the girls going in at bedtime it was always Cinnamon that went in first and bagged her position on the end of the back “bigger girl’s” perch.
A couple of nights ago I was surprised that when I checked on them Apricot was now in the middle of the back perch. I feel a bit sad that this meant all the little girls were now perched alone but as it isn’t cold at the moment I decided to leave them be. I wondered if this was a one off or if it was going to be the start of something new.
Apricot surprised me by perching on the back perch
Freckles is in her usual spot
Speckles and Emerald are in their usual spot
Poor Dandelion has been left in her usual spot but now alone
Apricot in her new spot but not too close to Cinnamon
The next night I looked in on them a bit earlier and just Apricot was missing. There she was again in the middle of the back perch. I then watched the other girls go in. Emerald took her place followed by Speckles. Freckles took her place. Then Cinnamon went in and I realised how she was getting up to the back, higher, perch.
Cinnamon went to the right hand perch that she used to use then from the end of that perch she jumped to the end of the back perch where she has been roosting for ages. She then turned herself around and hunkered down.
This makes me think that Apricot may have wanted to perch on the back perch but couldn’t jump from the right hand perch to the back perch with Cinnamon already there and blocking her. So instead she has worked out that if she goes in first she can bag herself a place on the back.
It will be interesting to see if this habit continues. We have gradually adapted the perches to suit the girls and put the left and right perches in a bit lower and with a narrower width perch to suit the little girls smaller size and smaller feet. This seemed to work well at first but it seems that now they have other ideas.
It seems that a higher perch will always be preferred but I wanted the perches to be both safe and easy, to both get up on to, and also down from. You can never dictate what chickens will do though.
I will continue to watch them at bedtime to see if this is just temporary or a new routine and will report back later.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
I am sure they will sort themselves out. to where they want to be.
They were in the same positions again tonight which is the third night running. I just feel a bit sad to see all the little girls perching alone.
I guess they are happy/comfortable in what they are doing. Ours faff about to get to the spot they want but that seems to change every night. Snowy mostly goes on a perch on her own while the others take to the “main” perch, with their positions seemingly chosen that night. Having said that, Snowy has chosen to go on the main perch with the others a couple of times recently!
I guess they do what they want to do. It’s just that in the past with my bigger girls (bantams) and before that with proper big girls, they always roosted very close together. Seramas originate from a hot country so I expected them to want to snuggle up together rather than roost separately like this. My husband’s theory is that originating from a hot country may be why they don’t have the instinct to huddle together. I do know that it is pretty difficult to change their habits.